Yup. Kawhi scores in so many ways. I used to think it was silly when non Rocket fans would rank Kawhi over Harden but this post season is the final straw. Players like Kawhi consistently show up in the playoffs while Harden is an epic brick layer spamming the same exact move over and over and over. We ain't ever going to win a ring with this type of Harden. He needs to over the off-season learn how to score in other ways either through post ups or a genuine mid range game.
When you watch Harden highlights from his first two seasons here, it's crazy how much more varied his game was and how many ways he would score. He would have a fast euro euro step move every game. Where have those moves gone? Moreyball mentality has really ****ed with Harden head imo. Defenses can predict everything Harden does now.
Meh I'm not even sure that's true. He played like **** against OKC and Portland the first two playoffs.
One of the biggest changes is Harden's game now compared to early in his Rocket's career is that he was far more willing to make a quick move as soon as he got the ball before. He wouldn't wait for the defense to settle every time. Now, he just does his slow walk and always let's the defense key on to him.
Kawhi genuinely reminds me of Jordan or Kobe with his diverse offensive moves.. it's crazy how much he's improved on the offensive end and is super efficient while taking tons of midrange shots
That's because those shots are not inefficient. They aren't really mid range shots either. Kawhi is so damn good at dribbling into areas where the shot is so close to the hoop it's basically a modified post up. He's essentially shooting jump shots where Yao used to hit them at a superb clip
I can't but wonder if most of the posters in this forum understand what bad officiating does to a player. Any player of Harden's elk will know that when officiating crew supplant the game by bad officiating or non-calls skewed against one team, the damage to the team is immense. To blame Harden for inefficiency under the circumstance is ludicrous. Is one thing to block out the non-calls by the referees, but it's another thing for Harden or even Chris Paul to constantly think that someone my get under him when he rises up to shoot. That thought alone mess up the rhythm. When shooting the basketball is no longer intuitive, the shot will constantly be bad; and that's what happen to Harden and or Chris Paul today. I wouldn't blame ours boys today for the lose because it's not easy, if not outright improbable for five to win against eight plus Adam Silver. Rockets fans just need to brace themselves for the atrocity of the league and bad officiating against the Rockets throughout the series. I wouldn't be surprise if the worst is yet to come. That's NBA and golden boys folks.
He got fouled four times on 3 pointers, that's 12 more free throws. Assuming he makes just 5 from 12 of them, we win. If Durant had shot 7-25 from the field, because he got mugged and a no-call 4 times, would you be saying he 'didn't show up'? Give Harden the right call on those (and the Klay early foul drive), and he is 9-22 from the field, and scores 45 (plus Klay is fouled out by halftime!! lol)
Other great players wouldn't spam the same inefficient (in the playoffs it has been inefficient) shot on the exact same move over and over relying on a subjective call by a third party arbiter. Other greats would find out ways to flat out put balls in buckets. Harden is too reliant on the refs to call the fouls he deserves. There are plenty of all time greats who find ways to score efficiently when the refs aren't blowing the whistle. Harden ain't one of them and it is the reason why he massively drops in efficiency.eveey single playoffs from the regular season.
Durant barely ever has those type of shooting games. Harden has PLENTY of these shooting games for 7 years now with Rockets in the playoffs.
You can be critical. Harden "not showing up" is not why we lost. We lost because we gave up 3 tech's in a close game, we couldnt rebound late, and refs screwed us for about 10 ft oppurtunitys. Harden showed up with very good defense, facilitation but couldn't knock down his shots from 3 because he couldn't land.
Durant career playoff TS% .596 Harden .577 That’s a difference but that’s not a chasm. You overly highlight the bad without recognizing the good games he’s had. Which easily outnumber the bad. Also the precipitous rise in Durant’s playoff efficiency coincides joining a ready made super team where defenses can’t key in on him.
I won’t lie, I’m defending Harden less this postseason. He does need to play a lot better. I won’t just write off the obvious 12-15 more free throws he should have gotten, though. It’s nuanced. It can be both. He needs to be better but he also can’t be expected to overcome blatantly rigged officiating.
Compare those ts% to league averages with respective years. Durant played a lot of playoff games with high usage in eras that were no where near 3 pt reliant as current seasons. The gulf is large. Durant delivers in the playoffs.
I got beat up in the BBS last year for suggesting that we lost the WC Finals because Harden didn’t show up. I still feel like it was a fair criticism. There’s a noticeable drop off in play between Harden’s regular season hero ball and how he performs in the playoffs. All that said, I’m so freaking angry about the way the refs officiated this game. I can stand losing but I can’t stand getting screwed by the refs. Wtf was that bullsh#t?
Do wut? They have both played in the playoffs the exact same years. The majority of the actual played games difference is during his recent years in GS.
